MONACO, France, November 7- It’s now finally official. The IAAF has on Wednesday ratified David Rudisha’s 800m world record set at the final of the London Olympics in August.
The world champion obliterated his own previous record of 1 minute 41.01 seconds set in 2010 in Rieti when he struck gold in 1 minute, 40.91 seconds in his first Olympic appearance.
It was the third time for Rudisha to be credited with the men two-lap standard having first broken Kenyan born Dane, Wilson Kipketer, long-standing 1:41.11 benchmark that had stood for almost 14 years when he ran 1:41.09 in Berlin on August 22, 2010.
Rudisha remains the only athlete in history to dip under 1:42 on seven occassions in his career that took off when he ran the world leading and Africa record equalling 1:42.01 in Rieti in 2009 after he failed to qualify for the medal race at the Berlin Worlds.
It comes only 48 hours after the world body named Rudisha as a finalist in the Male Athlete of the Year award during the IAAF Centenary Gala in Monaco.
Rudisha, 23, will battle it out with Jamaica’s Usain Bolt and America’s hurdling sensation Aries Merritt with the trio racing to the top medal at the London Olympics.
The world governing body also ratified the men 4X100m relay set by Jamaica at the same event of 36.84 seconds.
Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt ran the four-legs during the dash relay final.
Meanwhile, three-time World Cross silver winner Linet Masai, 22, will led the women’s field at the opening IAAF Cross Country Permit meet in Atapuerca, Spain on Sunday.
She’ll be joined by compatriots Priscah Jepleting, a World Cross silver medallist in 2006, and rising star Mercy Cherono who won the junior World Cross title in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Ethiopians Belaynesh Oljira and Hiwot Wude, who both finished fifth in this year’s Olympic 10,000m and 3000m Steeplechase finals, will also be in the field.
Vincent Chepkok, the 2011 World Cross Country bronze medallist, and Emmanuel Bett, who lead the world this season over 10,000m courtesy of his early September 26:51.16 run at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels are in the men’s field fronted by World Cross champion, Ethiopia’s Imane Merga.
